Summary of VICEP
In October 2005, we met with Mr. Hambleton, the chairman of the Royal Society for the Blind, and he told us the story of Annie, a 16 year-old girl with all A's on her GCSE's. She was asked what she was going to do after finishing school, and she said, "I'm going to be unemployed, because I'm blind."
V.I.C.E.P (Visually Impaired Children's Enterprise Programme) aims to encourage children at Tapton High, many of whom have multiple disabilities, to engage with society, whilst building their own successful calendar business, Tapton Business Enterprise (TBE). Through supporting the children in their own business, we are able to teach vital skills, whilst allowing the children to learn through their own experiences.
Before they could run their own business, we had to teach the children some basic skills. During weekly lunchtime workshops, the children counted change at a fruit stand, negotiated deals in a bartering game and made business plans for a pizza take-away.
The children started up TBE, Tapton Business Enterprise, in October 2006. They began by raising share capital and organising their team. Their first business was a 2007 wall calendar, which was sold at parent's nights and during school time and in 2008 we helped the children to improve their business.
If you would like to change lives and support Sheffield SIFE then please visit our sponsorship page.
How it Works
This projects mandate was very simple. Help a group a visually impaired students at Tapton School by teaching them valuable life skills and to helping grow their confidence. This was done in the context of a business and practical workshops which were adapted around the needs of the children. Whenever the children came across a problem we helped them to find their own solutions to the problem, rather than simply telling them what to do.
Our Impact
When we first met the children they were all very shy and didn't really speak to us but throughout the year they've become more confident and we're so proud that they have managed to run their own business and made a profit which they have decided to donated to charity. It's so amazing how they've overcome their difficulties and learnt valuable skills that they will keep for the rest of their lives... that's truly what SIFE is about. Our achievements for this project are outlined below:
- Initially the children learnt, through role play sessions, how to count change at a fruit stand, negotiated deals in a bartering game & made business plans for a pizza take away.
- Previously, only 1 of 8 children knew what market research was. Now all students have conducted & used market research. E.g. After research they reduced planned price.
- Taught the children that they could maintain their low cost base, whilst increasing quality, by searching for printers online. Students had not previously used the internet.
- In the New Year we ran sessions on different marketing & pricing strategies. As a result, in Jan (as sales reduced) the children decided to cut prices to increase sales.
- Children have learnt to team work effectively and their confidence has sky rocketed!
- Children can now calculate profit on sales & have learnt to manage their own money!
- Not only did the children learn to count coins and notes, we also taught them to understand cheques. The children also created an order book using Microsoft Excel.
- The children learnt the importance of paying all creditors on time and in full.
- As part of TBE's new code of ethics, the children decided to stop using school resources.
Finance & Sponsorship
This project is no longer running.
If you would like to change lives and support Sheffield SIFE then please visit our sponsorship page or if you would like to make an investment into one of the specific communities then please use our dedicated World Kind website.
The Future
The students have now all left Tapton School and so the project has come to an end. However, we are now working on a similar project called, School Enterprise
Project Partners
We worked with the Young Enterprise to develop the business and recieved much support from Tapton School and Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.
Image Gallary
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